A day after Kansas University quarterback Todd Reesing indicated he's been playing with a groin injury sustained during the Jayhawks' Oct. 17 loss to Colorado, KU coach Mark Mangino downplayed the injury and its effect on the struggling signal-caller.

"He's been cleared to play," Mangino said. "He told us he's fine to play, so I don't know if it's a factor or not. I don't think so."

For the third straight game, however, Reesing looked far from his old self. He completed 20-of-35 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown in Saturday's 42-21 loss to Texas Tech, but routinely threw balls into the turf and turned the ball over twice on fumbles, one of which came on a 4th-and-1 situation with Kansas in the midst of a potentially game-tying fourth-quarter drive.

As a result, Mangino benched Reesing — who three weeks ago he hyped as an early-season Heisman Trophy candidate — with 7:05 remaining fourth quarter in favor of red-shirt freshman Kale Pick. Kansas trailed by two touchdowns at the time.

Following the game, Mangino said the benching had come as a result of poor performance, though Reesing responded to a question about his health by saying he hadn't been 100 percent since suffering an injury against the Buffaloes.

"I’m not one to make excuses,” Reesing said. “It’s been a hard time practicing during the week because of it. I’ve got to do what I can to get ready and then play through it on Saturday. But I’m not going to say that that has anything to do with the last three weeks, because it hasn’t. It’s just something that you deal with as a part of football.”

Mangino said Sunday, meanwhile, that he hadn't spoken with Reesing about the player's benching and had no intentions of doing so.

"He fully understands what his role is," Mangino said. "He's been in meetings with his position coaches and the offensive unit, and I don't really have anything to say to him, because I think he understands clearly what's going on. He'll be fine. We're encouraging him, and I think he'll be fine."

More like this story

Comments

Reesing has more turnovers than Sara Lee. He is throwing into double coverage, hangs on to the ball too long and when he does throw under pressure its anyones ball. If he has a groin injury, why call quarterback draw plays? His problem is after four years the other teams know to put pressure on him and block the passing lanes with offensive linemen, which is the reason for the blocked passes. I imagine he was benched because he fumbled and just stood there while there was a fight for the ball, leading to a touchdown and he was just 10 feet away. In other words he quit. We are toast until he fixes the injury in between his ears.

Hydra, did you even watch the TT game? It doesn't sound like it, since you would have known the offense and a couple of special teams errors led to four easy scores for TT. This loss was not on the defense!

number1jayhawker - I totally agree!! 2 of our touchdowns were scored by our Defense!! As much as I'd like to, you can't blame the defense for this... I love Todd, he's been great for this team, but he has something going on mentally that he needs to fix before he can lead this team again!!

I understand why everyone points the finger at Reesing, but this whole offense stinks. KU's best victory is against Duke. But Mangino has made zero adjustments since the first game. Same plays. Same players. Same execution. Receivers struggling to get open, linemen missing blocks and Reesing trying to do it all by himself. You can do that and beat ISU, SM, Duke, UTEP, etc. You can't do it in conference play against OU, Tech and CU. A.nd don't forget about the loss of Jake Sharpe. Big difference maker

I hope Reesing and the Jayhawks turn it around. I'm a big fan of his, but if he can't perform, you've got to bench him. That's what good coaches do. They make tough decisions. I hope we don't need to, but turn to Pick. Maybe we have another great turnaround. If it doesn't happen, then at least Mangino can go down to Texas and find another good QB this winter. It would help if he found some new blockers, too.

Mangino has made adjustments, it is just that they all suck... He coaches like he is playing a video game... instead of attempting to run the ball he just drops back and flings it down field... Sharp's injury is a factor, but it should not be this big of an effect as TO is a better fit for the offense if Mangino would only realize that 3 yards on first down is better then no yards or a INT.

The offensive line has been horrible, but it seems too many times Reesing goes for a "great" play instead of just taking the easy play and getting what is available. It does seem like our receivers have a tough time getting open, and then catching the ball. Saturday is not going to go well, and I'm not sure where the next victory comes, except maybe 2010.